At a Louisiana Chemical Plant the possibility existed that the shallow groundwater could become contaminated with man-made organic compounds. Corrosion of pipelines and tank bottoms needed to be prevented. However, conventional deep anode beds could potentially allow migration of contaminated shallow groundwater to deeper water bearing zones used for plant water supply and drinking water. An experimental cathodic protection system with environmentally safe deep anode bed developed by the authors was selected as the design of choice and installed. After the wells were charged with an electrolyte, small diameter high current output anode strings were installed and connected to rectifiers. The system became operational in the fall of 1989. The system has an expected lifetime twice the conventional systems, prevents groundwater contaminant, is easy to maintain with replaceable anodes and has proven to provide highly effective and efficient cathodic protection. This paper describes the installation, design criteria and results after six months of operation.

Subject
Electric current, Water, Piping, Cathodic protection, Wiring, Tank farms, Installation, Anode resistance, Rectifiers, Anodic current, Tank bottoms, Surveys, Anodes
Keywords:
deep anode bed, environmentally safe, replaceable anode string, small diameter, high current output anode, degassing, contaminant migration, protected potentials
© 1991 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1991
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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